Fenton has made assurances to Spurgeon, but Iím looking at their roster and I donít know what he thinks he can do to climb out of the mushy middle.

Spurgeon at 30 in 2019 for Kapanen at 23? I don't really like the sound of that....

That's a fair point; at a certain place in the build, you do need to make a push to try to get over the hump though.

Kapanen isn't going to stay cheap (breakaway goals) and I'd argue that his team contributions next year probably aren't going to outweigh adding a 1RD even if only for a year. I get that this is exactly what most people want to say about Nylander, but for me (and Dubas it seems) Nylander = elite and Kapanen = pretty good but mostly replaceable (hello Trevor Moore, Ilya Mikheyev).

Penguins, #mnwild in trade talks surrounding Phil Kessel. @JoshYohe_PGH has confirmed what I reported Tuesday about potential Jason Zucker-Victor Rask for Kessel-Jack Johnson swap. Lots of details in this story + other possible landing spots for Zuckerhttps://t.co/TOM2dZhbQk

Obviously there's differences between a centre vs. a winger and being a goal scorer vs. a playmaker (*cough* *cough*), but it's interesting to compare this deal with the one his teammate Josh Bailey got last season.

Bailey had a career season where he scored 76 points and got 6 years with a $5mil AAV.Nelson had a career season where he scored 53 points and got 6 years with a $6mil AAV.

I was introduced to a similar series a few years ago during the wait between Martin publishing stuff.If you're into similar Medieval POV 'realistic' fantasy world building involving a bastard child developing psychic bonds with animals playing an integral role in feudal politics and (eventually) dragons, give the Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb (and subsequent trilogies) a gander.

With Smith though, that gregarious nature stops when the hockey gets serious. He very much would like his teams to play in his own playing image, which is hard, physical and mean. This is your periodic reminder that those things are still good in hockey and just because this is Smithís preferred style, it wonít preclude him from advocating for other ways to play if the end result is successful.

Macfarland has been around the Leafs org. Dubas brings in coaches with promise to the Leafs development camp to see how the team operates, form ties w/ them, and they usually present to the staff one evening. Macfarland was there when I was (as was Jeremy Colliton, funny enough). https://t.co/Dydb8gAmz5

Bob Boughner, at the time he added new Leaf asst. Paul McFarland to his staff: "He's an alumni of the (Windsor) Spitfires so I had a lot of contact with I know him and his family. He's an up-and-coming guy with a lot of structure and detail ... "

" ... He's a pretty unique guy. He's 31 years old (now 32), he's already been an accountant and school teacher, and now he's an NHL hockey coach. He's a great communicator and that's what I was looking for, an up-and-coming, passionate guy.''